An aerial view of construction as of March 2021 at the Steel Dynamics plant in Sinton. The plant is expected to go online by the end of the year. Courtesy photo
Steel plant announces first-quarter profits, nears completion of Sinton facility
The Steel Dynamics Inc. flat-roll steel manufacturing plant under construction in Sinton recently received a wastewater permit from the Texas Commission on Environment Quality. Construction is expected to be complete on the $1.9 billion plant by the end of 2021. The company also named a new board president May 24 and announced its first-quarter earnings and plans to create a wetlands at the Sinton site.
The wastewater permit will allow the plant to discharge up to 1.5 million gallons a day of treated process wastewater, utility wastewater, and previously monitored effluent from the Sinton facility located near Texas 89 and U.S. 77. The plant is expected to produce 3 million tons of steel a year.
Company founder, President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Millett also became the president of the board of directors, the company announced this week. He replaces founder Keith E. Busse, also a company founder, who stepped down. Busse remains a director.
“Mark has done a tremendous job leading the company,” Busse said. “I believe Mark and the Steel Dynamics team will propel the company forward through the next stage of growth.”
The company reported strong first-quarter earnings for 2021 with operating income up 115 percent to a record $641 million. A rise in demand for flat-roll steel drove the increase, Millett said.
The company shipped a total of 2.8 million tons for the first quarter.
Earlier this month, Steel Dynamics announced it would create constructed wetlands at the Sinton site to protect Chiltipin Creek from treated wastewater discharge. The plan comes as part of a settlement agreement with the Aransas Project, which lobbied TCEQ to reject the plant's wastewater treatment permit application.
According to scientists, the wetlands will remove a high degree of metals in the wastewater.
